12 Tips for “Psychological Selling”

Many copywriting and marketing gurus teach simplistic ideas about psychology. They insist that people can be fully understood and manipulated with a checklist of motivators or pyramid of needs.

What nonsense! I can’t even figure out why the guy at the pet store puts 75 cat food cans in one bag and a tiny box of treats in another so that I lurch to my car leaning to one side. How can I possibly summarize human psychology in a few bullet points?

People are highly complex and often mysterious, so we all struggle to understand our fellow humans. However, now that you’ve gotten over being afraid to sell, here are a few basic psychological tidbits that can help you write compelling copy.

1. People make decisions emotionally.

They decide based on a feeling, need, or emotion, not through a logical thought process. That’s why intangible benefits are the keys to persuasion.

When you’re writing, you should ask yourself, “What is the emotional hot button here?”

2. People justify decisions with facts.

Example: a man sees an advertisement with a photo of a sports car and instantly falls in love. However, he can’t bring himself to buy the car based on a feeling, so he reads the copy for technical details about the powerful engine, safety features, and low maintenance.

He wants the car because it makes him feel good. But he buys it only when he can justify the purchase rationally.

3. People are egocentric.

The word “egocentric” means centered around the ego or self. We all see the world in terms of how it relates to us personally. So when your copy asks someone to do something, it must also answer the unspoken question, “What’s in it for me?”

On a deeper level, the question might be “How does this give me feelings of personal worth?”

4. People look for value.

Value is not a fixed number. Value is relative to what you’re selling, what others charge, what the prospect is used to paying, how badly the prospect wants it, and how the prospect perceives the difference between your offer and others.

You must demonstrate a value that seems to be equal to or greater than the asking price. The greater the value relative to the price, the more likely people are to buy.

5. People think in terms of people.

The human brain is not a computer, calculator, or information processor. Scientists have shown that its primary function is to deal with social interactions.

Remember how some mathematical questions in high school were stated as real-life situations? They were always easier to understand and solve than abstract problems. Your copy, therefore, should feature people through names, personal pronouns, quotes, testimonials, stories, photos of satisfied customers, etc.

6. You can’t force people to do anything.

When people buy, it’s not because you wield some magical power over them.

You can urge. You can push. You can entice. But ultimately, people do what they want to do. This means your job is to show how what you’re offering meets your prospect’s needs.

7. People love to buy.

Some say people don’t like to be “sold.” Not true.

People love to be sold. They love to discover wonderful new products and experiences.

What people don’t love is to be cheated or tricked. Therefore, it can be helpful to change your analogy of the marketing process.

Instead of “selling” to people, try to “help” them. Sell good products, make appealing offers, and treat people fairly. That’s a surefire formula for success.

8. People are naturally suspicious.

It’s true that there’s a sucker born every minute, but most people are moderately skeptical of any offer. They seek to avoid risk.

You can never predict the level of suspicion any particular person has, so it’s usually best to back up all claims with evidence, such as testimonials, survey results, authoritative endorsements, test results, and scientific data.

9. People are always looking for something.

Love. Wealth. Glory. Comfort. Safety. People are naturally dissatisfied and spend their lives searching for intangibles.

At its simplest, writing good copy is a matter of showing people how a particular product, service, or cause fulfills one or more of their needs.

10. People buy “direct” because of convenience and exclusivity.

If people could easily find the things you offer at a nearby store, that’s probably where many would buy them. So if they are not buying from you directly for sheer convenience, they’re doing it because they can’t find the item elsewhere (or just don’t know where to look).

That’s why it’s wise to emphasize the convenience and exclusivity of what you wish to sell.

11. People like to see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it before they buy it.

Some people never buy online because they can’t examine the merchandise. Some items, such as books and CDs, are tangible and familiar enough to sell easily online because there is little doubt about the physical quality.

Other items, such as clothing or food, may be a harder sell — at least until people have a satisfactory buying experience — because quality may be variable.

Think about how people buy things in stores and ask yourself if there is some element of that sensory experience that is missing from your sales message.

12. Most people follow the crowd.

Most of us are imitators.

We look to others for guidance, especially when we are uncertain about something. We ask, “What do others think about this? What do others feel? What do others do?” Then we act accordingly.

This is why testimonials and case histories are so influential.

Of course, this barely scratches the surface. Psychology is a deep and eternally revealing line of study. And while I don’t believe in making things more complicated than they have to be, I think there is great benefit in knowing not only what people do, but also why they do it.

Reader Comments (83)

Sometimes I wonder how one author, like Dean Rieck, captures the essence of online marketing with clarity. Dean’s comments come across as an elaboration of “Treat your website visitor the same as you want to be treated.” What a friend labels, “Keen observations of the obvious.” Sometimes we need reminding, and Dean does this well.

Wonderful post! When I adopt the perspective of a potential buyer or client, I realize how much your tips ring true. I am always suspicious when someone is first introducing a product or service to me. And I can’t stand lies or aggressive persuasion. I have usually been sold based on whether or not I feel, in the end, it will suit my needs – and testimonials are honestly one of the most important elements of my final decision. If I hear firsthand accounts of satisfied past clients or customers, I am much more likely to buy into it. One just has to look at how weight loss programs are sold. If they didn’t show people who had actually managed to lose a substantial amount of weight on the program, I don’t know many people who would be inspired to pick up the phone and order that exercise program.

In college, when I had no clue what I wanted to be or do, I wound up majoring in psychology, just because I loved it. Learning to decipher human behavior has helped me in everything I’ve done since, especially copywriting!

This is helpful advice. I write about politics and economics. The former can attract a crowd much easier than the latter. Your observation that people are always looking for something (Love. Wealth. Glory. Comfort. Safety.) can help my writing. People need to see right away that they should read the piece in front of them, otherwise they will go elsewhere immediately. And, this is, among other items listed here, is what is sorely missing in my writing.

Good points that make sense especially in creating sales copies. However, I think we shouldn’t overdo it when using a persuasive approach in our words. Sometimes, our customers may perceive us as being misleading especially when they end up buying a product below their expectations.

My point is, while we need to be competitive in order to be able to sell, we shouldn’t go overboard and end up misleading our customers. Lots of sales copies I’ve seen online seem to be in the habit of doing this.

My father, Loren E. Dunton, known internationally as the Father of Financial Planning, was on the popular “What’s My Line” TV show back in the 60’s. He stumped one of the celebrity panelists when she asked if he used “flattery” to sell. His answer was no. He later explained that he believed in complimenting a client. “Compliments,” he said, “are based on truth. Flattery is insincere.”

Dean,
I like how you focused on value in number 4. Too often people (sellers) are so obsessed with getting someones money through copywriting tricks that they forget the real currency at work is value. When you give value you can get anything you want.

In these troubled economic times, when access to cash and credit are tight, it is possible to still grow your business by working on a value scale and not a currency scale.

Hey Dean dude. Great post. I think it depends on who you are selling too though cause not every person is like how you describe them to be. If you are trying to use psychological selling on psychologists then I don’t think you will be selling much stuff.

This list of things could be a great handbook on how to sell.
I think it is difficult to judge the own copy writings and it will be helpful to have a friend or spouse revising it and trying to figure out the feelings and emotions of potential buyers.
The best is to give this list of 12 to an external reader. He or she should control your sales page or copy writing step by step checking each point on the list.

I’ve taken sales courses and all it is is pure PSYCHOLOGY. It is interesting to think the way you say or write things (just a little differently than the last way) can truly effect the outcome of the sale. Great article.

I personally read copyblogger (and write for copyblogger) with a giant invisible DON’T USE THIS TO SELL CRAP superimposed over the words. The most valuable product will not get up and start selling itself. As copywriters, we have to shape the conversation to tell the story about how it will meet the buyer’s needs. I don’t see a thing wrong with that.

This is very true. While many copywriters/writers use the typical “sales page” pitch, the truth is, many people are starting to react less and less to these type of ads. For example: Now Introducing the AMAZING and Life Changing Software: I mean, people want to see something new and refreshing then the same type of ads.

This post is perfect timing for me. I just launched an e-book on my website, and I’m always looking for ways to improve selling.

An important thing to mention, which ties a lot of these bullet points together, are testimonials. They show there is value and feeling behind a product, and if other people are buying it and loving it, one will usually follow the crowd if they are 50/50.

Sales is something that never came naturally to me. While others would sell and sell, I would go home empty handed. Let me tell you, it was frustrating.

But I did eventually learn how to sell. I’m by no means the best, but I’m way ahead of where I was when I started. Tips like those presented in this article really help me. Not only do they reinforce what I have learned before, but they also make me think and look for ways to improve my selling.

Regarding the item no. 4, it’s sometime the skill of the writer in twisting the contents into value. With this, I mean there’s a thin line between overselling and value. I find myself sometimes still lack of the twisting power that I hardly can persuade myself to buy my idea. 🙂 Efforts needed.

Wow, lots of comments on a very good article… really quickly, though, the biggest thing that’s missing from the list is “voice”. It’s especially important for writers. Current research indicates that the brain responds best to a conversational tone of voice (like the one the author used) and poorly to a very formal, one-sided tone of voice (like your average product documentation).

It’s worth a lot more discussion than a comment on a blog, but I thought I’d toss it out to the larger group.

I agree with many points here, but making decisions emotionally is not a global feature of humans to the extent you discuss. If we look at Japan for instance, they are making more decisions based on data than on emotion, and they are more likely to purchase based on Technical Selling. I wrote an article about this difference a while back:

Influencing other’s actions can be fairly easy. There are well-documented ways to manipulate others and I am not advocating Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” or Mao’s “Little Red book” although well worth a read for other reasons. But let’s focus on getting the answers you want.
It’s All Down To How You Phrase Your Questions
Mori Poll participants were given two options for combating a plague projected to kill 600 people.

This is because humans are risk-averse when dealing with gains (let’s keep what we have); but risk-prone when dealing with losses (let’s hope for the best).
Too Much Choice

In another study by Mori they found that if you offer a shopper a one time only sale on a product, a Sony CD player say, most, 66% will buy it, happy to avoid further shopping. If you offer them two different products, one by Sony, one by Aiwa, both on sale, 46% will continue shopping rather than buy either.
Choice Makes People Less Likely To Make A Decision

This confirms a strategy, when writing and showcasing product and services. Know who you are writing and creating for; make the buying decision easy for your punters with just one clear and compelling message. Cheers. the Baldchemist